Richard h



(No Model.)

R.H.SOULE PIPE GONNEGTIONv POR GARS.

No. 409,120. Patented Aug. 13, 1889.

N. PETERS. Phulo-Liihogmphnr, Washngnn, 0:(1V

. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RICHARD H. SOULE, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGN OR TO THE STANDARD CAR HEATING AND VENTILATING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 409,120, dated August 13, 1889. Application led April 15, 1889. Serial No. 307,340. (No model.)

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be. it known that I, RICHARD I-l. SOULE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented or discovered certain new and useful Improvements in Pipe-Connections for Cars, of which improvements the following is a specification.

The invention described herein relates to certain improvements in connections for uniting lines of, pipe arranged under adjacent cars for the purpose of conducting fluid, whether employed for heating the cars or for other purposes. Such connections must necessarily have a certain amount of ilexibility on account of the oscillations of the cars;

hence it is customary to make a part of such connections of rubber hose. In cases where it is desirable that the connection should be in or approximately in the same horizontal plane as the lines of pipe under the car it is necessary that a portion of the connection should be made capable of elongation and contraction-4j. e., that an eXpa-nsible joint should be incorporated in the connection-in order that the connection may accommodate itself to the movements of the cars toward and from each other. In spite of the expansible joint thus provided great difficulty has been experienced in'preventin g the hose from being bent or kinked by the movement of the cars toward each other, either during the coupling operation or when stopping at stations or elsewhere.

The object of the invention described herein is to provide means whereby the hose may be held in a straight line or straightened when bent.

The invention is hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure l is a view, partly in elevation and partly in section, of a connection embodying my invention; and Fig. 2 is a transverse section on the line a@ ai,

Fig. 1.

The members l and 2 of the coupling A may be of any suitable construction, but preferably that shown and described in an applicatances between cars.

tion, Serial No. 296,003, filed January 10,1889. To the member 2 is secured a section of pipe 3, adapted to slide back and forth in the pipesection 4, which is connected at its rear end to the train-pipe 5 and is provided at its front end with a stuffing-box G, formin ga tight joint around the pipe-section 3. The expansible joint thus formed permits of the connect-ion accommodating itself lto the varying dis- The member l of the coupling is provided with a nipple 7, onto which one end of the loose section S is slipped and secured in place by the band 9, the opposite end of the hose-section being similarly secured toa like nipple on the fitting l0, which in practice is secured to train-pipe of an adjacent car. In order to prevent the movement of the cars toward each other in coupling, or when in use on the road from bending the loose section rather than forcing the pipe-section 3 into the section Il, a heavy coiled spring' ll is interposed lbetween the bands 9 employed for securing the ends of the hose onto the nipples of member l of the coupling and of the fit-ting lO, said bands being constructed to form abutments against which the ends of t-he spring may bear. This spring is made considerably longer than the hose-section 8, as indicated by dotted lines, and suiiiciently heavy, so that when conned between the abutments or bands 9 it will exert sufficient longitudinal tensional force upon the hose to overcome any resistance which there may be, caused by the movement of the pipe 3 through the stufiing-box G into the pipe-section 4, thereby preventing any bending or kinking of the hose-section, or, in case of bend or kink being formed by reason of the rapidity of the car movements, the spring will force the pipe-section 3` through the stuffing-box, thus restoring theconnection to normal condition.

Vhile preferring to arrange the spring outside ofV the hose, as affording protection to the hose against external injury and wear, it is obvious that the spring will perform its principal function--fL e., maintainingthe hose in a practically straight or unbent condition, if arranged between'suitable abutments inside the hose. Any suitable forni or eonstrnetion of abutments or shoulders may be eln ployed in lien of the bands 9, if desired.

It is obvious that the invention is applieable in other places where itis desired to hold a section et' lexible tubing in a practicable straight Condition, and by thatl mean in sueh a Condition as to permit of the free uninterrupted passage ot' fluid along the tube, for it is obvious that the spring will not prevent a lateral bending of the tubing, nor is it intended so to do; but it will. preventany kinking or foreing one side in against the other, thereby either Wholly or partially Closing` the tubing.

I elaini herein as my inventionl. The combination of a seetion of hose or {lexible tubing having suitable abutments or shoulders and a spring under Compression 

